WaPo might be insinuating Obama's strategy won't work

I’ve been doing a lot of WaPo reading lately, and I’m starting to notice a trend there and in the rest of the liberal media – there is a definite wariness on the part of the journalism elite regarding the Middle East. They posted a story with a headline you might not expect to see from them, “As U.S. takes on the Islamic State, al-Qaeda remains degraded but not defeated”:

Advertisement

As the United States mobilized against new Islamist enemies this month, the voice of an aging adversary echoed in the distance.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of al-Qaeda’s founders and its leader for the past three years, released a video announcing the formation of a new affiliate in India and lamenting the turmoil being caused by the rival Islamic State in Syria.

“Oh mujahideen, unite and reject differences and discord,” he said in a pleading tone that seemed to underscore the declining relevance of al-Qaeda’s core, the
Pakistan-based group that orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But Zawahiri was silent on a far more sensitive project — the creation of a cell in Syria dedicated to plots against the United States — that once again made predictions of the demise of al-Qaeda’s core seem premature.

The news came out that during the initial bombing runs over ISIS, there was also a strike on a group called “Khorasan,” which was organized by one of the three masterminds of Al Qaeda,  Zawahiri. See, we set this timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from parts of the Middle East, which terror groups (like Al Qaeda and ISIS) picked up on and simply decided to outlast. The WaPo is exactly right in calling it a “dormant fight.”

If you’re not working pulling out a weed by the root, it will simply grow back. What Obama did was decided that placing his hand too close to the dirt to get it, he would just get a weedeater and chop off the top. Al Qaeda and those that oversee the organization of the network’s cells are like this weed – it can grow back. And it is starting to. Our victory turned into having Al Qaeda on the run, which then turned into we will have in place a system that is ready for any situation that might arise.

Advertisement

The latte-salutin’ president has been told he is the smartest guy in the room so much he now believes it (or he has always believed it and only surrounded himself with people who would bow down and agree). The military leadership sees a problem with the strategy. Anytime they come close to saying “We need to do more,” the White House runs out and says “Ignore this man.”

Al Qaeda is working very hard to regain some of its strength, while America’s leaders are working hard to reduce America’s impact in the world around them. Zawahiri didn’t stop. ISIS will not stop. The president is far too afraid of getting his hands dirty to accept this. Hopefully, we can pause anything that might be coming our way long enough for an actual leader to take the White House.

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos